


Misplaced in Time

by Merfilly



Category: DCU - Comicverse, The Mummy Series
Genre: Crossover, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-04-16
Updated: 2007-04-16
Packaged: 2017-12-06 22:43:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/740999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dinah falls out of an energy rift... right into the Medjai</p>
            </blockquote>





	Misplaced in Time

Black Canary yelped as she was dumped on her butt, in hot sand, with a lot of crazy people on horses swishing around, swinging swords at a band of Wild West re-enactors.

Then one of the crazies swung a blade at her from horseback and she had no choice but to fight now, and think later. She dodged and got some ground between her and the wheeling horseman, bracing herself. When the horse charged back at her, she leaped, and took the man clean out of his saddle. The horse continued its way, coming to a stop well away from the battle, and leaving her with a black haired, sword wielding tattooed man.

He rolled from her surprise attack, twirled the sword in his hand to get a better grip on it, and launched a quick attack at this woman with blonde hair and clothing that covered head to toe without hiding anything.

His blow came down hard…and was smacked firmly off to one side with a metallic rasp against her gloves. She had used the outer edge of her hand, and apparently those golden accents were truly metal. He snaked the blade around again, thinking he saw a good opening at her side, and she shifted sideways, letting his blade go right past her. In the moment it did so, she kicked, from that impossible angle, and took his sword arm off center from a follow through.

"No one may pass this way," he spat in challenge, moving to get some space, to size up this deceptive djinn in female form.

"Honey, all I want to do is go home. You're the one borrowing trouble by fighting me." She actually smiled at him as she moved in and forced him to go on the defensive. His sword moved fast and furious, weaving a protective net of slashing surface to keep her fists and boots away. Then she connected, heel to his shoulder, jarring the entire arm into numbness and making him drop the sword.

{"No one touch her!"} the warrior shouted at his gathered friends, the other adventurers either dead or running for their lives. The band of warriors held their distance, as their leader prepared to meet the woman unarmed.

{"Aww, don't need a few friends to help with little ol' me?"} the woman taunted, her Arabic heavily accented, but clear enough to be understood. She then struck a fast succession of blows toward his face, which he managed to fend off, only to find himself dumped on his backside by a leg sweep he never even suspected.

{"HOLD!"} he insisted as he got up.

{"You started this, handsome. Not much in the habit of holding back…"} She flipped just out of his ability to reach her though, dropping to a crouch to look up at him. It gave her the ability to move faster, her strong legs coiled, if things went bad.

{"What manner of creature are you that you fight like an afreet, look like a barbarian woman with no shame, and speak the language of learning?"}

She looked at the infuriating male warrior with a roll of her eyes. {"Black Canary, and if it means keeping my hide whole and off that knife of yours, I will damn sure fight like any manner of devil needed."}

{"Such language."} The chiding remark reminded her so strongly of another man who could match her, take her to the top of her game, that she had to repress a smile.

"So…I get that I'm not in Kansas anymore, but now that you finished slaughtering these cowboys, how about you tell me where the hell I am?" she asked, flipping back into English.

"You do not know that you were bound for trespassing on sacred ground?" he asked incredulously.

"Sweetie, a big hole opened up as I was finishing with a fight on the docks of Gotham, and then I was burning my butt on your very hot sands. And stopping some whacko…you…from chopping my head off." She smiled sweetly, and watched as a man, older than her opponent, rode up to him and conversed in a dialect she would bet was more Bedouin than Arabic.

"Come then. We will take you to one who may be able to help," the warrior conceded when the other man pulled away. A horse was procured for her, and the band of warriors fell in, leaving all but their own dead to the sands.

`~`~`~`~`

There had been a long talk. Boring words about how a prophecy, a long ago enacted spell, and something about Canary specifically had combined to bring her to Egypt, or, more specifically, Cairo, Egypt in early 1923.

Dinah was not a happy camper in the least.

"So…long time ago, a Medjai ally told them a man would come to Egypt and destroy all mankind, unless he was stopped. They got the priests to cast a spell that would insure the right warrior was available. And somehow, that right warrior is me?" She rolled her eyes. "This is impossibly insane, which somehow fits my life."

"How do you survive as a warrior, wearing your emotions so nakedly on your face and in your limbs?" the man she had fought earlier asked her. "You are a chosen warrior for a great destiny, and you scoff at it?"

Black Canary walked over, patting his tattooed cheek. "Great destiny is what others do. I just live my life the way I need to." //Great destiny was Barry. Look where that ended up?// The wistful thought tempered her irritation at this strange situation. "So, what do I call you, handsome?"

"My name is Ardeth Bey."

"Ardie, huh?" she asked, tweaking him by shortening the name.

"Woman, are you married?" he asked, seemingly a calm, cool question.

Dinah paused, stepping back. "No…"

"That is just as well. The man would be dead of your tongue by now." With that sharp retort, the warrior strode out, leaving her with her mouth hanging open, and the supposedly unobtrusive library assistant snickering behind her hand. 

`~`~`~`~`

It took all of two weeks before Canary had had absolutely enough of Cairo, of sitting on her hands while Ardeth and company scoured the local deserts and oases for news of any impending threat. They were finding rumbles, dutifully reported back to the librarian, and thus to Dinah, but sitting still was not her strong suit in the least. And the little assistant, Evie, was driving her slightly crazier than usual with the full-blown perkiness.

"Look, I might not know the area, and I am just a dumb American woman, but you have to get me out of here," she finally told Ardeth on one of his visits into the library.

"You would be a distraction and a drawback to my band," Ardeth told her dismissively. At that tone, the woman's eyes darkened dangerously, and she moved before he could really register it, pinning him face down, arm up behind him, her knee in the back of his for full bearing.

"Distraction? Drawback?" She could not help the disdain, as she pushed off of him, letting him get back up.

He appraised her shrewdly. "Teach me that. Teach me to fight like a spitting cobra, with neither blade nor gun, and I will let you join my band of warriors."

"Handsome, you have a deal," she purred.

`~`~`~`~`

The pair settled into a routine. She argued for men's clothing, in the desert style, and he conceded only after she threatened to 'adjust' the western men's clothing to be far more revealing. At least in his style garb, she was decently hidden from view, and few even realized how seductive a creature was in their midst, with the swaths of cloth concealing her curves.

He argued she should stick to horses, when his camel took offense to her being around. She defiantly proved it was just his beast, winning over his second's spare mount in no time.

He explained she could not ride off alone in the desert, braced for the argument, and was surprised when she willingly accepted his lead on that.

In short, their routine was full of arguments and being off balance, at least on his side. She seemed to be fully confident she could and would conquer any situation. This seemed to include him, as she made good on her promise to teach him her style. He got tired of landing on his face or butt rather quickly the first match, and threw himself into learning it with the fervor of a true warrior.

It was early in their second week of him learning when he finally threw her, and followed through. She smiled as he came down, protecting his body from a sudden thrust or her flexible kicks, and nodded. 

"You have it, Ardie, damn good."

He growled in frustration at the unwanted nickname, and in that small instant, she flexed, tossing him and rolling to get the pin on him. She was smiling even more as she leaned down close to his face.

"You really are good, Ardeth. Give me a few more days and you'll be as peerless in this as in that blade work of yours." She moved off of him in the next instant, coming up and offering him a hand. He took it after a moment, allowing her to assist him.

"Let me offer you skill for skill, then." He pointed to his sword. "Let me teach you that."

She shook her head. "Not my style, Ardeth. I'm not overly fond of sharp, pointy things, any more than I care for guns." //Maybe even less.// 

"It could mean the difference between life and death, both weapons, if the rumors of my scouts are correct."

"Oh?"

He looked out over the sands. "The enemy we think is coming is called the Demon's Head."

He never could have thought that such profanities, in English, Arabic, and languages he had never heard could have spewed from the mouth of such a beautiful fighter. When she finally stopped, she looked at him with intensely blue eyes.

"Teach me."

`~`~`~`~`

Ardeth knew in the moment she gave herself to him as a student, their lives changed. She had been serious when teaching him, but always held a light air and a distance from him. As his student, it was different, as the quips dropped to a minimum, her concentration all on the lessons.

She hated the coming enemy, as much as he was dedicated to protecting Egypt. As things fell into place, confirming the rumors of a large army, she grew a little grimmer, offering surprising insights into how the man would deploy.

"He'll come after your strongest fighter, personally. He's always looking for an heir," Dinah explained, the day they finally mapped out how and when to meet the enemy. "That's you, Ardeth." Her acknowledgment was greeted by nods from his tribesmen. "If it goes badly for him, the closest bodyguard, an Ubu, will intervene to protect his master." She gave a smile that was just shy of being vindictive. "That's why I'll be on your flank, Ardeth. I've got a grudge to take out."

"You have explained this man is alive in your times; surely he must fail if things have proceeded the way you explain," one elder interjected.

"Time is mutable." She grimaced. "We have to win here…so that one day I and my allies can fight him there."

"As you wish, Ta'er Sawdā." The use of her Arabic name got a soft smile from her, and some of the younger men smiled despite themselves. She might be immodest and rather immoral by their standards, but they could not help but wish to be in Ardeth's place at times.

`~`~`~`~`

The desert nights were cool and still Dinah had discovered. Or maybe it was just that she felt like she was caught up in a whirlwind. She had never faced Ra’s personally, could still feel the phantom breaks and punctured organs that had all but killed her, delivered by a vicious Ubu. And now, with the fate of the world on this band of warriors' shoulders, she was going to have to tackle both at once.

She might even die, and this time there wasn't a handy Lazarus Pit.

A gentle hand on her shoulder made her look back and up, into the dark eyes of her teacher, who looked down at her in unearthly understanding.

"You think you face death on the morrow."

"It's possible."

"Death is always with us, Ta'er Sawdā." He turned her toward him, an instinct telling him this woman who had taught him so much needed to be reminded of life, before they faced battle.

His instincts were as sound with women as with a fight, as she lifted up to kiss him softly, bringing them closer together.

`~`~`~`~`

She gasped despite herself as the blow landed, stealing her much needed breath. This Ubu was a brute and a half. Ardeth was holding his own, the Medjai were soundly keeping the army pinned down, and she was keeping Ubu from his master.

Mainly by losing a fight. Or at least that's what it felt like to her, as she sucked in a new breath, wincing at the ribs that were compressing her left lung. She had tried hard to keep it to fists and feet, but this Ubu was too strong, impossibly fast, and a better fighter than any henchman had a right to be.

She pushed herself to flip away from Ubu, giving him just that single moment to register Ra’s was not faring well. While he did, she got the blade Ardeth had given her ready, and sprang back in before Ubu got far enough to affect Ardeth's battle.

The monster of a bodyguard turned, to catch her assault, eyes widening as he perceived the sword a moment too late to change his tactics. With it piercing his shoulder so unexpectedly, and Dinah following through with rapid kicks, it was all but given that she had the fight, hands down.

Moments later, as she was regrouping for a new fight, it impacted her awareness that the army of Ra’s was in retreat, their leader having been rescued by his lieutenants. Dinah slid to her knees in the hot sand, joined half a moment later by Ardeth as the less injured Medjai gave pursuit.

"You were right." She looked into his dark eyes. "Death is always with us." She moved her arm from her chest, and felt the sharp flare of pain again. "Doesn't mean we give up to Her."

"Never do we give up. Always do we fight," he agreed, helping her up a moment before a dark, swirling mass of energy opened. "Ahh…the spell must be at an end, Ta'er Sawdā."

She gave the energy a forlorn look, then glanced back at him. "Must mean we won."

"For now, for this fight." He pressed his own sword into her hand, despite her attempt to refuse. "To remember me, student and teacher."

"I don't have anything…"

"You gave me yourself." He did nothing more than graze his fingertips just under her jaw line, before giving her a small push.

She let herself enter the portal, tears escaping that this man, this valiant warrior, would be dust when she emerged.

`~`~`~`~`

"…nary?"

"Here, Oracle….outside Cairo."

"Cairo, Egypt? You were just in Gotham…"

"Send someone to pick me up…I really need a shower."


End file.
